Materials Science, Vol. 43, No.

5, 2007

CREEP OF DEGRADED 2.25Cr Mo STEEL IN HYDROGEN

L. O. Babii,1 O. Z. Student,1 A. Zagrski,2 and A. D. Markov 1
UDC 621.181:669.018

The results of creep tests of 2.25 Cr Mo steel are used to show that the secondary creep rate in a gaseous hydrogen is higher than in air both for the metal in the intact state and after its operation in the technological processes of hydrocracking of petroleum. This means, first, that the properties of the metal guaranteeing its serviceability in the initial period of its service are exhausted in the process of operation and, second, that hydrogen affects both the degradation and creep processes. Indeed, hydrogen intensifies the diffusion processes and, hence, accelerates the degradation of the metal and facilitates creep.

Hydrocracking is an exothermic process. To exclude the possibility of overheating of the reaction mixture, it is customary to use hydrogen with a partial pressure of 3 3.5 MP a. The designed service life of the reactors for hydrocracking of petroleum is, as a rule, set equal to 1 2 105 h. The 2.25Cr Mo-type steel is one of the most extensively used materials for the production of reactors of this type. In view of the high service parameters of the reactors (working media at temperatures of 450C and under pressures of 16 MPa) and their large sizes (the diameter, thickness of the wall, and height of reactor are equal to 1.24, 0.050.255, and 1620 m, respectively, [1]), the reliability and safety of their operation are, to a large extent, determined by the stability of the mechanical properties of the pressure-vessel metal. Among the most widespread causes of damage to the reactors, one can mention the structural degradation, creep, growth of creep cracks, high-temperature fatigue, embrittlement, influence of hydrogen, graphitization, thermal impacts, erosion, and high-temperature corrosion [25]. Indeed, as a result of long-term operation in hydrogenating media, the pressure-vessel metal degrades, which leads to structural changes [6, 7], decarbonization caused by the conditions favorable for hydrogen corrosion [8], and deterioration of the characteristics of short- [9] and long-term [10 11] strength and static and cyclic crack resistance [1214]. According to the regulations of maintenance of these reactors, it is impossible to cut out a piece of metal for the inspection of its state. Therefore, the mechanical characteristics of the metal after a certain period of operation are estimated according to the results of simulation of the process of degradation of the material under laboratory [1517] or operating conditions (by using specimens-witnesses periodically removed from the reactor). The main aim of our investigations is to establish the regularities of the influence of hydrogen on the secondary creep rate for 2.25CrMo pressure-vessel steel in the intact state and after 6 104 h of operation (in the form of specimens-witnesses) in the reactor for hydrocracking of petroleum (Table 1). Experimental Procedure Specimens with cross section 3 20 mm in size were tested for creep in an AIMA 5-2 commercial machine additionally equipped with vacuum chambers both in air and in gaseous hydrogen under a pressure of 0.5 MPa
1 Karpenko Physicomechanical Institute, Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Lviv. 2 Warsaw Technical University, Warsaw, Poland.

Translated from Fizyko-Khimichna Mekhanika Materialiv, Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 9196, SeptemberOctober, 2007. Original article submitted October 9, 2007. 1068820X/07/43050701 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 701